


Geodes

by jadencross



Series: Dark Voltron [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Graphic Description, I'm so sorry, Nightmares, Oneshot, Possession, Suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 01:33:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7665148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadencross/pseuds/jadencross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They always say that geodes are prettier when broken.</p><p>But sometimes it's best to leave the outer stone the way it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Geodes

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my lord I'm so sorry. This was gonna be intense, but then my brain's like, "Well, this is currently a level 10. Let's take it to level 30."
> 
> This idea came from DragonDown and I analyzing the crud out of episode one and I couldn't stop thinking about how Lance paused before shaking Shiro's hand and basically I was like "how could I turn this into foreshadowing and hurt my two favs in one go?" 
> 
> This is the answer.

“Shiro!” Pidge’s excitement seemed to echo off the canyon walls. “Look!” 

She held up a vaguely oval rock only slightly larger than her hands cupped together. 

Shiro’s brow wrinkled slightly. “What’s that?”

“It’s a geode!” she beamed, placing it into his metal hand. “Break it!” 

“Aren’t those rocks, like, super strong?” Hunk came to stand beside Pidge, glancing at the brown stone. “I mean, Keith’s been trying to break stuff all morning.”

“Yeah,” Pidge turned, blinking, “that’s why I gave it to Shiro.”

“How do you know that this is a geode?” Shiro asked. 

In response, Pidge pulled a small reader out of her pocket. “My readings say there are crystals inside. I want to see what they look like.”

“What are ‘geodes?’” Allura’s breath on Shiro’s neck caused him to jump slightly. He hadn’t heard her come up behind him.

“Geodes are rocks that have crystal formations inside,” Pidge explained, clearly not startled in the least.

“Oh, we used to have those on Altea,” Allura’s eyes started shining. “We did not call them ‘geodes,’ however. They were called huznaks.”

“Break it open, Shiro!” Pidge stuffed the reader back in her pocket. “I want to see what color the inside is!”

“Yes Shiro, please,” Allura chimed in. “On Altea, the color of a huznak was seen as a prophecy. Depending on the color, there was either luck or misery in the breaker’s future.”

“Like a fortune cookie?” Hunk asked.

Allura wrinkled her brow, “A what?”

“You know, a cookie with a piece of paper in it?” Hunk supplied. “The paper supposedly had your fortune on it.”

“Why would there be paper inside a cookie?” Allura blinked.

“Nevermind,” Hunk huffed. “Just break the rock.”

“Alright,” Shiro looked at the small rock in his hand. “Here goes.”

He flexed his hand, squeezing the rock as hard as he could. Hunk was right, the stone was surprisingly strong. A normal rock would have been dust but this one seemed unfazed. After a few minutes of trying, Shiro realized he needed another way to break it.

“Let me try this instead,” Shiro said, positioning himself by a flat rock that jutted out from the closest wall. He raised the rock over his head, but paused before bringing it down. 

Something in him told him not to. It was silly, really. They were on a random planet in a random galaxy just taking a small break after saving Matt and Sam. Why would breaking this rock be bad?

_ Don’t do it _ , something in him whispered.  _ You don’t want to see what’s inside. _

Shiro shrugged it off. He might not have particularly cared, but Pidge and Allura wanted to. That was why he was breaking the rock. 

And why would he not?

He brought the geode down on the other rock, a loud  _ crack! _ ringing throughout the canyon. A clean split appeared in the brown surface, and Shiro’s fingers now had no problem exposing the inside. 

Hunk, Allura, and Pidge all leaned in close, watching with anticipation for the color to be revealed.

They all reeled back, noses wrinkled at the smell of rotting flesh. The inside were many small black crystals that were so dark they didn’t even shine. A dirty brown filled the cracks in the stone on one side as a dead animal resembling a rat was unstuck from the points inside, the brown stuff clearly once having been liquid that came from the animal.

“Ugh!” Hunk folded himself as if he was going to barf. “That’s disgusting!”

“That poor creature…,” Allura pulled the still body from the rock. 

At her touch, the body began to shake slightly. A small squeak sounded from the animal, and it moved its head slightly. 

Shiro watched it, his heart plummeting.  _ That poor creature… _

The animal’s eye opened, and they locked onto Shiro’s. A strange feeling came over the paladin. It was almost like kinship. Shiro felt his pity reflected in the animal’s eyes. 

_ We’re the same _ , it’s eyes seemed to say. Then it’s eyes slid closed, and it huffed it’s last breath.

“What was it doing in there?” Pidge asked, looking at the rock.

“I...don’t know,” Shiro said, trying to shake the uneasy feeling. “But I don’t really want to find out.”

\--------------------------

That night, Shiro dreamed.

He dreamed about his time on the Galra ship. He dreamed about fighting in the arena. He dreamed about finding Voltron. He dreamed about losing control of the Black Lion when trying to rescue Allura. He dreamed about those months where they were all separated. He dreamed about their reunion. He dreamed about the successful rescue of the captured Holts. 

And he dreamed about the rat creature. 

He dreamed he held it in his hands as it died, a voice speaking in his head.

_ You are the same, _ it whispered.  _ Only, you won’t get the relief of death _ .

Shiro woke up in a cold sweat.

\--------------------------

“You brought it on board?!” Allura’s voice carried out of the lab. However, it didn’t matter, as all of Team Voltron was already present.

“I was trying to figure out why the mouse was stuck inside,” was Pidge’s reply. She held the geode from the other day in her hand. 

“Katie,” Matt spoke up, his tone not nearly as harsh as Allura’s, “we don’t know what that thing is.”

“It could possess the ship again!” Lance threw his hands in the air. “I distinctly remember how many times we almost died the last time a crystal of death appeared on board.”

“Sorry,” Pidge didn’t really seem apologetic. “But it’s an interesting sample. I wanted to study it.”

“I can’t imagine that something so small would affect the ship,” Sam put his arm around Pidge’s shoulder. “If she wants to study it, why shouldn’t she?”

The group was split as to whether Pidge’s curiosity would kill Voltron, but eventually it was decided that she could keep it, so long as she and Sam kept it in the lab while studying it.

During the discussion, Shiro didn’t mention the sense of relief he had that the geode was still around.

\--------------------------

That night, Shiro dreamed of the geode again, but this time he was the rat. Allura held him in her hands, her vibrant blue eyes shining with pity. The other paladins stood behind her. 

Lance was crying. Keith looked angry, his face shaded in furious shadows. Hunk pulled Lance into his chest, his own face unreadable.

“Why did you break it, Shiro?” Pidge whispered, her eyes wet. “Weren’t things fine as they were?”

Shiro tried to speak up, tried to explain himself, but his voice didn’t work. His body wouldn't move. He was trapped.

When Shiro woke from that one, he didn’t sleep for a week.

\--------------------------

“Is it just me, or are the Galra attacks getting more frequent?” Lance said, sliding the last of his armor back into it’s case. “It’s like they’re tracking us, or something.”

“They can’t be,” Keith returned. “We’ve been using pretty much nothing but wormholes for weeks now. There’s no way.”

“Well,” Lance scowled, “ _ I _ think that they are. How else would we be under attack pretty much daily?”

“Bad luck?” Hunk tried.

“Maybe it’s that crystal Pidge kept,” Keith said. “Didn’t Allura say geodes were like fortune cookies on Altea?”

“Hey!” Pidge bristled. “It’s not my fault!”

“He’s right,” Lance looked up. “Maybe the Galra put a tracker in it.”

“The planet where we found the geode was completely free of Galra and any other highly intelligent life,” Pidge locked eyes with Keith. “There weren’t even  _ traces _ of Galra or Galra tech anywhere near that canyon. I scanned the geode before I brought it on board, and have scanned it numerous times since. It’s not even emitting anything. This is not because of me.”

Keith didn’t look away, but Shiro noticed that he took the smallest step back.

Hunk intervened, pulling Pidge away and toward to kitchen for a “post-battle cook-off.”

Keith waited until they had left the room before leaving himself. Shiro watched him go, before sharing a glance with Lance. They seemed to share the sentiment.

Was Team Voltron starting to divide itself?

\--------------------------

This time, when Shiro was the rat, Pidge held him. Allura was nowhere to be seen, but Pidge held him up to her face.

“What did you do?!” she yelled, tears forming at the the corners of her eyes. “ _ What did you do?! _ ”

Shiro was at a loss for her frustration until she turned him towards the others. Hunk sat on the floor, crying as he cradled Lance in his arms. Shiro couldn’t see Lance’s face as it was pressed into Hunk’s chest, but the paladin was shaking. 

Keith stood over the two, his arms crossed and a look of pure rage on his face. He turned towards Shiro, and reached out to grab him in his hand. Shiro squeaked in pain for how hard Keith squeezed him.

“Why?!” the red paladin shook the poor rat. “Why did you break it?! Why did you do this?!” 

Shiro squeaked, trying to tell Keith he didn’t know what he did, but he didn’t understand. Keith seemed to just be angered by the squeaking, and he increased the pressure in his fingers.

“If you get to destroy, oh Great Leader,” Keith hissed. “Then I do, too.” Keith began squeezing even harder, and Shiro felt his neck snap. 

Shiro shot upwards in his bed, panting. He looked at his human hand, finding it a shaking mess. He placed it on his face, feeling the sweat. 

He tried to calm himself, but he couldn’t. 

He decided he wouldn’t sleep unless he absolutely needed to.

\--------------------------

“Shiro!” Hunk cried. “What do we do?”

“I-I don’t—”

“Augh!” Pidge’s cry resounded through the comms. 

“We can’t form Voltron unless we can get away from these fighters!” Keith practically grunted. “What do we do?”

“Shiro!”

Shiro was too tired to think. It had been days. He was letting his team down. 

“I don’t know…,” he finally managed. “I can’t...I can’t think straight.”

There was momentary silence.

“Guys!” Lance called. “I think I see a planet we can hide behind. We need someone to distract majority of them so we can all get farther away and shoot until the distraction catches up.”

“I’ll go,” Keith said. “My lion’s faster and more agile. You all can cover me.”

“Is that a good plan, Shiro?” Hunk asked. 

Shiro froze. “Y-yeah. It should be.”

“Alright team,” Pidge shouted. “Let’s go!”

Keith darted off, and the others started heading for the planet. Shiro followed suit, mentally kicking himself. He  _ had _ to force himself to sleep that night.

\--------------------------

“What were you doing out there?!” Allura’s eyes were alight with fury. “You almost got yourselves killed!”

“We had problems getting away from the fleet,” Hunk tried to pacify her. “They seemed to know our movements better than before.”

“I do not believe that to be the only problem,” Allura trained her eyes on Shiro. 

“I’m sorry,” he tried. “I realize I was not as cohesive as I could have been—”

“I believe that to be an understatement,” she frowned. “Please refrain from staying awake at all hours! Your lack of mental alertness almost cost the team their lives today.” Her eyes flashed.

Shiro took a step back. “I’ll try to sleep more,” he promised. 

Allura huffed and pivoted on her heel, her hair flying in a circle behind her. 

“Please don’t think she’s actually angry at you,” Coran spoke up after she had left. “She was just very worried that you were having such difficulties. She doesn’t want to see any of you die.” He looked at Shiro. “If you ever need anything, just let me know.”

“I will,” Shiro said, promising himself that he wouldn’t have to put this burden on anyone else.

\--------------------------

Tonight, the dream was different. 

He wasn’t the helpless rat, or even a prisoner on the Galra ship.

This time, he was fighting alongside the other paladins. They were working their way through a Galra Ship, defeating soldier after soldier as they made their way to the ship’s commander.

After thousands of ticks, they finally made it, and Shiro felt a happy glow in his heart that he and his team had done it. They’d taken over a cover ship.

“Surrender,” Shiro’s voice was steady, his pride at those beside him strengthening his resolve. “We have you outgunned and outmanned.”

“Do you?” the voice was low and growling, the power in it freezing Shiro cold. The commander turned, and it was Zarkon, his eyes unimpressed at the show before him.

“How…?” Shiro took a step back. They weren’t ready.

“It looks like some unwanted rats found their way onto my ship,” Zarkon sighed. “It appears as if I need to call on my exterminator.”

“No one is coming to help you,” Keith spat. 

“I would not need it,” Zarkon replied. “But I have no intrest in getting the blood of rats on my hands.”

“You will need to,” Lance braved a smile, though Shiro could see him shaking. “No one can get past us.”

“Oh, but he already has,” Zarkon smiled. He locked eyes with Shiro. “Am I incorrect, Champion?”

Suddenly, Shiro’s arm erupted in pain. He fell to his knees, holding it as he felt inhuman fingers dig through his chest. They dug at his heart, and wormed their way up his throat. 

A small hand was on his shoulder. “Shiro?” Pidge called softly to him.

Then the fingers hit his mind. 

His body moved on it’s own. It whipped around, grabbing Pidge by the neck. Her eyes widened, just before Shiro’s hand tightened and a sickening snap ripped the light from her eyes.

Shiro was immediately on his feet, his arm glowing purple as he heaved a fist at Hunk. It was blocked by Keith, who placed his bayard in the fists’s way. 

But Shiro’s arm grabbed it, plunging the human hand into Hunk’s chest.

“No!” Keith cried, and pressed his back against the arm in the yellow paladin’s heart. While he was distracted, Shiro released Keith’s bayard, and wrapped his hand around Keith’s neck. 

Keith dropped his bayard, his hands reaching for his throat and trying to pry Shiro’s fingers off his neck.

_ Stop!  _ Shiro screamed.  _ Stop stop stop, please! Don’t hurt them! _

His body didn’t move, but instead watched as Keith’s struggles began to slow. 

A blast to his left caught Shiro’s attention, and he turned just as Lance swung his bayard at Shiro’s head, causing him to release the only-barely-conscious Keith to the floor and reel back. 

Lance fell to his knees, pulling Keith into his lap.

“What are you doing?!” Lance cried, cradling Keith’s head in his hand. “What have you done?!”

Shiro’s body lunged, grabbing Lance by the throat and lifting him in the air. Lance tried hitting him again, but Shiro grabbed the bayard with his free hand and threw it across the room. Lance tried to pull Shiro’s fingers off his neck, while trying to kick Shiro at the same time.

Shiro felt a weak grip on his leg, and he looked down to find Keith struggling to pull himself and do  _ something _ to stop Shiro. 

Shiro simply lifted his foot and slammed it on Keith’s chest. Blood bubbled in the paladin’s mouth, as his body convulsed. 

“—ieth!” Lance tried to cry. Shiro tightened his grip, cutting off all air from Lance. Lance kept fighting, Shiro screaming as the light started to fade and his body began slowing. 

“Lance!” Shiro screamed, trying his hardest to loosen his grip, to lower his arm, to do anything to stop himself. He tried to look at Zarkon, tried to beg him to stop controlling him. Tried to rip those fingers from his mind.

Lance forced a smile, his hands loosening on Shiro’s. He gave a small thumbs up, grimacing as he forced the corners of his mouth up. 

_ It’s okay, _ he mouthed, then all the light faded from his eyes, and he was gone.

“No!” Shiro cried even as his body turned to face Zarkon.

“Finish them off,” Zarkon said, stepping away from the control panel. Shiro stepped up and began typing and adjusting. 

Shiro’s heart filled with dread.  _ No. _

“Target locked,” Shiro’s mouth said. “Ion cannon charging.”

The Castle of Lions filled the huge window before them.

_ No no no no no. _

“Cannon charged,” Shiro’s face smiled while Shiro tried to stop it.

“Fire.”

“ _ NO! _ ” Shiro screamed, sitting up in bed. 

“Shiro! It’s okay!” large hands here suddenly on his chest, gently pushing against him and grounding him. 

Shiro was panting, sweat making his clothes heavy, his eyes the beginning of a waterfall. He blinked a few times before Hunk’s face appeared in his vision, his eyes darkened with worry.

Shiro immediately grabbed Hunk’s arm and pulled him close.

“You’re okay!” he cried, realizing his throat was sore. “He looked over Hunk’s shoulder and saw everyone else with the same worry in their eyes. 

“You’re all okay.”

\--------------------------

“You’re sure that couldn’t ever happen?” 

“Absolutely,” Sam assured him. “We can’t find anything that would cause your arm to take over you. Not even with Altean scanners.”

“Well,” Pidge corrected, “it’s more like it doesn’t have enough power. And from what we can tell, it never will.”

“Wait,” Lance pointed at the science duo, “so his arm  _ could _ go crazy-psycho on us someday?”

“No,” Pidge said. “I just mean that  _ even if it did _ , it doesn’t have enough power.” Pidge turned to Shiro, who was sitting on the lab table. “You were probably just having a nightmare. I don’t think anything that happened in it could happen in real life.”

“However,” Sam said, “our tests might have drained the power from your arm. From what we can tell, it gains power from feeding off your energy, so you might feel really weak for a while.” He smiled sadly. “It might even hurt. But don’t worry. Everything is fine.”

“That’s a relief,” Shiro sighed. 

Coran placed his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “Everything will be just fine, now,” he smiled. “We can all get back to normal life after you recharge your arm up. It’ll be good as new!”

Shiro smiled.

“Good as new.”

\--------------------------

Shiro was in pain.

Hot, white fire shot from his arm up into his chest. The burning sensation made it hard to breathe, but he bit his lip so he wouldn’t make a sound. 

He curled more around himself, crinkling his sheets and biting his lip. It felt as if his arm was trying to distance itself from him.

Or take him over.

Shiro shook his head. That had just been a nightmare. He had seen it many times, sure, but he also had dreams about the team dying, or failing to save Matt and Sam. None of those things had happened, so surely this was the same. Sam and Pidge were sure that nothing could happen. Everything would be okay.

Wouldn’t it?

\--------------------------

“It’s actually really pretty, isn’t it?” 

Shiro nodded, finding himself agreeing.

“I mean,” Lance continued, “the pattern on the outside of it looks almost like waves back on Earth.”

“I think I saw rocks that looked similar to that when I went climbing in the mountains on Earth,” Matt commented. “They’re not normally geodes, though.”

“We still have no idea how the rat got inside,” Sam said, typing away on the computer on the other side of the lab, “but it appears to be completely safe. The inside’s also very pretty once it’s been cleaned.” 

“Oh,” Pidge added, “and don’t stick your finger in the middle of it.”

“Why?” Lance said. No longer watching his finger, it wandered too close to to center of the cracked geode. The spikes extended suddenly, jabbing into his skin.

“Ow!” Lance screeched, dropping the geode to a chorus of laughter.

“The crystals appear to move,” Pidge deadpanned. “Think of it as a rocky, space version of a venus flytrap.” 

“Thanks for the warning,” Lance rubbed his finger.

“It is very pretty on the outside, though,” Matt smiled. “And on the inside when it’s clean.”

“Yeah,” Shiro looked at it thoughtfully. “It’s pretty, but deadly.”

\--------------------------

Shiro fell to his knees. 

The pain in his arm was stronger than it had been before. He could hardly breathe. Pain laced through his muscles, circling his arms and keeping him from moving. 

He was stuck in the training room in the middle of the night, having just been trying to wear himself out in the hopes of sleeping all night. He just wanted to go to bed.

Eventually, it got so bad all Shiro could do was cry out. 

He tried to keep it muffled, but something inside him made him want to yell out louder. 

“Shiro?” Lance’s voice called from the hallway. Shiro saw him practically come running in from the hall from the corner of his eye. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“It’s just my arm,” Shiro gritted his teeth. “It hurts really bad.”

“Do you need help?”

“If you wouldn’t mind helping me to my room?” Shiro looked up. 

Lance smiled. “Sure.”

Lance reached out his hand, and Shiro lifted his to grab on.

They clasped hands, and immediately Shiro’s arm began to glow.

“What?” Shiro, tried to pull away. “What’s going—”

“Uhn…,” Lance murmured. 

Shiro’s attention immediately snapped to Lance. The color was starting to drain from his eyes, the blue fading into a deathly grey. He began to shake, and he fell to his knees. 

“Lance!” Shiro cried, trying to pull away from him, but the fingers were latched so strongly he couldn’t get Lance out of his grasp.

Shiro pulled Lance towards himself, falling back onto his feet and setting the younger paladin against his chest.

“Lance,” tears welled in Shiro’s eyes. “Lance, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I can’t let go.”

Lance looked up at him, his eyes almost completely grey. He forced a smile, and reached his free hand up to wipe a few tears away.

“This isn’t you,” Lance forced himself to whisper. “I know. And if I know, we all do. We don’t blame you.”

“Please don’t say that,” Shiro whispered back, trying not to cry. “Please don’t talk like that.”

“You don’t know what it’s doing, do you?” Lance searched Shiro’s eyes as Shiro slowly shook his head.

“It’s charging,” Lance glanced at his hand. “I can feel it...taking from me. I don’t…” Lance looked back up at Shiro. “I don’t think it’s going to stop.”

Shiro had to pause for a second. “What?”

“Shiro,” Lance tried to smile again, “we’re both going to die here.”

“That’s very defeatist of you,” Shiro started trying to stand up. “I’m not going to let—”

“Please,” Lance’s voice was weaker. “Don’t move. Just for a few more moments. Please.”

“Lance…”

“At least I get to die looking into your beautiful eyes,” Lance tried.

“Now isn’t the time for that,” despite his words a small smile appeared on Shiro’s face.

Lance gave a small huff of laughter, then he fell limp. 

Lance’s eyes turned completely grey. They weren’t like normal grey eyes, the ones that resembled rainy days and storm clouds, but instead the grey of death, like the color of dying skin.

Shiro tried to shake him, tried to wake him up—He was breathing, wasn’t he? He could still wake up, please wake up—but he couldn’t control his body anymore. 

His hand finally unclasped from Lance’s— _ Too late, too late _ —as he stood up and walked towards the door Lance had entered from. 

The door automatically slid shut behind him, cutting off his view of Lance.

Shiro couldn’t even cry for the body he left behind.

\--------------------------

Shiro was sure that they were all woken up by the sound of the lion taking off in the middle of the night.

He wished they had stayed asleep.

\--------------------------

“What do you mean, the Black Lion’s gone?” Allura rounded on Coran. “Shiro would not have just  _ left _ .”

“Princess,” Coran clearly struggled to stay calm, “I’m telling you all I know. Shiro is gone.”

“So is Lance.”

Allura spun to see Hunk enter the room. He held Lance in his arms bridal-style, but Lance was too loose for Allura’s comfort. He was pale, his normally beautiful skin a sickly color, and his arm swung too much as Hunk walked.

But by far the worst thing was his eyes.

They were grey and lifeless, and they stared unblinkingly at nothing.

Allura ran over and placed her hand on his chest. He was cold, too cold, and breathing, but the way his eyes seemed devoid of life…

“Where did you find him?” she asked, her tone sharp.

“The middle of the training room floor,” Hunk’s voice was too soft, too drained of anything remotely Hunk. Allura could hardly stand to hear it.

“Why was he there?” Allura asked. “How did you find him?”

“He’s so...muted,” Hunk said, watching Lance’s face. “Lance is always super energetic and loud and obnoxious and…,” he trailed off for a second, on the verge of tears, “...and a really good friend.” 

“Hunk,” Allura called him back, “focus. Why was Lance in the training room? How did you find him?”

“I...I don’t know…,” Hunk just stared at Lance. “I saw that Lance wasn’t in his room when I stopped by. It was just luck that I found him.” He paused, swallowing hard. 

“He’s gone forever, isn’t he.”

It wasn’t a question.

\--------------------------

Pidge, Keith, Sam, and Matt had appeared and, after forcing themselves through the shock of the situation, had assisted Coran and Allura in searching the castle for Shiro.

It was to no avail, however, as nothing turned up. The only thing thing they could find that was out of place (besides Shiro and the Black Lion) was the geode, which had been welded back together.

They walked somberly back to the control room, trying not to notice the tear stains that traced wretched paths over Hunk’s face as he sat against the wall still holding Lance. They succeeded less in preventing trails of their own from forming.

Before they had the chance to speak, another alarm went off.

Allura and Coran dashed toward the control panels, locating the source.

“No,” Allura drew back, pulling the video feed to the big screen.

A huge Galra ship was suddenly very close, and very big. Before anyone could react, a video popped on screen.

“Greetings, Legendary Defenders,” the Galra commander on screen smiled. “We appear to have located you. Don’t bother putting up a fight. You’re outgunned. But if you don’t make me angry, I might spare your lives.”

“Outgunned?” Allura forced a laugh. “From what I can tell, you have only the one ship, while we have this one and the legendary Voltron.”

“But that’s not true, is it?”

Allura stopped. The commander smiled. 

“We know at least two of the paladins are down for the count,” he explained, “and we know that you do not have the firepower in your castle to take us on.”

“How would you know such things?” Allura asked. 

“I have a  _ very insightful _ informant,” the commander sneered before stepping back.

Another figure walked on screen.

“Hello, Allura,” Shiro smiled, his eyes solid purple.

All the breath was knocked from Allura’s lungs. 

“Shiro?” the sound of heartbreak in Matt’s voice almost shattered her own.

“That’s right,” Shiro gloated. “Remember when you said that my arm couldn’t take over? Well, you were only half right. Turns out, it just needed some juice. Thankfully, Lance was a very useful donor. How is he, by the way? Sometimes they can still breathe on their own for  _ months _ after having their life force sucked out.”

“You monster!” Hunk yelled, fresh tears pouring down his face. “If you already took Lance from us, at least give Shiro back!”

“Sorry, Hunk. No can do. See, I’m under very strict orders. ‘Infiltrate Voltron, and then destroy them after taking the Black Lion for Zarkon.’ Now that I’ve done Part A, I just need to do Part B. Luckily, this is the easiest part.” He paused, his smile widening. 

“Charge the ion cannon.”

“Coran,” Allura forced herself to act, “put up the particle barrier.”

“I can’t, Princess,” Coran replied somberly. “The crystals have been taken.”

“You mean these?” Shiro held up two crystals, his smile unwavering. “I may have done a few things to the old castle before leaving. I hope you don’t mind. Oh, and I wouldn’t try to set up a jump or anything, either. You wouldn’t want Pidge’s head to hend up on Hunk’s foot or other...deformities.”

“Coran,” Allura was all but begging, “engage the thrusters.”

“Those appear to be down, too.”

“Where’s the nearest planet?”

“We’ll never get there in time.”

“Activate our ion cannon.”

“It appears to be down, too.”

“Then what do we have?!” Allura rounded on him.

“The kitchen appears to be working fine,” Coran gave a weak smile.

“Fully charged.” The voice came from off screen. Shiro smiled. 

Allura grit her teeth. She turned, seeing Matt and Sam holding Pidge in their arms. 

“We just finally found each other,” Pidge sniffled. “Now mom will really be all alone.”

Allura averted her eyes. She didn’t want that heartbreak on top of her own mountain of emotions.

Keith saw the look on her face, and walked to where Hunk sat. He put his back on the wall then slid down. He placed a hand on Lance’s head and began whispering something. Hunk whispered back, nodding his head slightly, never taking his eyes off Lance.

Coran came to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Princess,” he said gently, “you did everything you could.”

“No,” Allura fought back tears. “I could have scanned Shiro’s arm sooner. I could have done more diagnostics. I could have built an Altean version just to be safe. I could have—”

“No one could have foreseen this,” Coran stated bluntly. “We’ve all made mistakes, sure, but this was not one you had the opportunity to see coming.”

The dam finally burst.

Allura flung herself around Coran’s shoulders, sobbing into his ear.

“I thought we could do it,” she whispered. “I thought we could actually defy all odds and win. I thought that was what Voltron did.”

“So did I, Princess,” Coran hugged her back. “So did I.”

“Aim.”

“Stop it, Shiro!” Keith begged. “Please, come back to us! You don’t have to do this!”

The purple in Shiro’s eyes flickered, becoming their original color for a moment before coming back brighter than before.

“We forgive you,” Hunk whispered. He looked up from Lance for the first time since Shiro came on screen and offered a small smile.

“It’s okay.”

\--------------------------

“Fire.”

The sound of the ion cannon was devastatingly loud.

But the sound wasn’t needed to silence Shiro’s screams. After all, it wasn’t really his body anymore.

The geode had been broken.

**Author's Note:**

> Why do I always do my best writing at midnight? As always, thanks to DragonDown from the proofing.
> 
> Okay, so I'm a firm believer of the "hurt your favs" ideology, but...man I'm a mess after writing this. I feel like I just killed all my children. I'm sorry. 
> 
> I almost regret this. Let it be known I will probably never write this dark again. But I might keep editing this.
> 
> To lighten the mood how's this:  
> Lance: *chillin in the afterlife*  
> Other Dead Guy: How'd you die?  
> Lance: A very firm handshake.


End file.
